Far Out and Far Away: Five Bizarre Cars from the 2008 Geneva Motor Show

As always, Geneva showcases what curious creatures lurk beneath the surface of the automotive landscape.

Among the many reasons to attend the 2008 Geneva auto show are its elegant surroundings, manageable size, and proximity to the Geneva airport, which allows simple baggage-free fly-in, fly-out access from just about any city in Europe. And held as it is in a country dominated by no particular group of carmakers, the show offers an egalitarian mix of automobile introductions from all over the globe. But easily the best thing about Geneva’s annual Salon International de l’Auto is the smattering of four-wheeled flights of fancy from boutique design houses and/or designers too wacky to get work from major automakers.

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We give you five cars—and we use that term loosely—that are among the many crazy, quirky, and incredible machines sprinkled about the two show floors of the Palexpo, and whether or not they ever get into the hands of real customers, they certainly make the long trip to one of the most expensive cities in the world worth it.

The biggest preshow buzz among boutique builders was for Rinspeed’s amphibious, deep-diving Lotus Elise–based “sQuba.” Going into the show, we had heard it was actually capable of driving into the water, floating like a slow motorboat, and then diving beneath the surface like an open-topped submarine. We were hoping for a live demonstration of such, so imagine our disappointment when we arrived at the stand to see it not burbling about in a garage-sized aquarium and not swimming with hot Swiss mermaids but instead merely sitting on a turntable surrounded by plastic sea plants and fake lobsters.

Yeah, we were a bit let down, although after seeing a short video loop of the sQuba in action, we were sort of glad it was sitting still. Seriously creepy. That’s the best way to describe how the little white Lotus pondered, wheels motionless, several feet below the water’s surface (it can dive to a maximum of 33 feet). Inside, a pair of occupants—seen seconds before in clothes and sunglasses “driving” on top of the water at about a knot—were suddenly donning scuba gear, turning their heads, and pointing at things during their “tour” of the sea floor.

Even more wrong but equally pointless is the ability of the sQuba to drive on dry land by itself, as in, by remote control, guided by laser sensors keeping it from running over curbs, trees, or, say, surfers changing in the beach parking lot as it silently makes its way back to the sea, perhaps to find others of its kind.

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Now, what its kind actually is, we still don’t know. Powered by lithium-ion batteries, it is not a traditional sports car, a submarine, or any sort of useful water-borne pleasure craft. If you’re gonna scuba dive, it’s hard to get up close and personal with the wonders of the underwater world when you’re cranking your neck to see over the tall door sills, and if it’s the fishies you’re looking for, we don’t expect many would stick around for long once they see this gap-mouthed white thing clumsily bouncing off coral reefs, flattening sea urchins, and sending crustaceans scampering for their lives. Great whites, on the other hand, might find the sQuba a tantalizing way to grab a quick snack.

The sQuba may not be particularly well suited to any aquatic tasks, but the two things it and every Rinspeed creation are brilliant at are freaking people out and getting them talking. On these counts, the sQuba is another wild success.

If James Bond were to ditch his Astons for something more pure, the elegantly intense K.O 7 might be the perfect match. Similar in size and purpose to the Ariel Atom but adding exquisitely crafted milled aluminum and carbon-fiber bodywork and an equally exquisitely detailed interior, the K.O 7 is the latest, and perhaps greatest, work from renowned auto designer Ken Okuyama, whose recent stint at Pininfarina brought us, among other things, the Ferrari Enzo and the Maserati Quattroporte.

The K.O 7 roadster is powered by a rear-mounted four-cylinder engine that produces 250 horsepower at 8300 rpm and 153 pound-feet of torque at 7000 rpm and features a six-speed manual gearbox with gorgeous exposed shifter linkages and oh-so-short throws. Weighing only 1650 pounds, roughly 200 more than the Atom, the K.O 7 promises the kind of acceleration that Okuyama likely got used to with the Enzo, albeit with much more wind.

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But even when standing still (or rotating on a show stand), the K.O 7 is breathtaking. The styling was inspired by a Japanese samurai sword, and there are countless details that grip the eye, such as artfully placed grilles, forward-canted headrest fairings, splendid watch-gear-inspired wheels, and an exposed, chrome-capped valve cover on the engine. Also visible from most angles are the red diamond-stitched, leather-covered racing seats, both of which face a beautifully crafted dashboard with an integrated, removable Tag Heuer watch face based on the Grand Carrera. Look for the K.O 7 to be featured in Tag Heuer marketing in the future, but don’t look for it on U.S. roads, at least not yet. Only 99 will be built per year, with sales beginning in Japan by the end of 2008, after which other markets will be considered.

Brooding in a corner of the Brabus stand in Geneva was one of our favorite cars anywhere on the floor: the Brabus Bullit. Although technically launched last fall in Frankfurt, the Bullit is just too cool not to mention again. Besides, it’s far more at home here in Geneva than in Germany. The Bullit is a Mercedes-Benz C-class like you never thought possible: stuffed to the gills with a twin-turbocharged 6.2-liter V-12 bestowing the little runt with no fewer than 720 horsepower and 811 pound-feet of torque at the fat rear wheels.

The show car features smashing aero modifications rendered in a sinister matte-black paint scheme befitting its ass-kicking purpose. The grille in particular, with its three carbon-fiber gills and no three-pointed star, makes the point that this ain’t no workaday C-class. The interior gets a complete makeover, with plenty of black leather and Alcantara, carbon-fiber trim, and slick white top stitching.

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As for the price, at the equivalent of about $480,000, it is also much more suitable to Geneva than Germany. Or you could do without the body mods and upgraded interior, simply buy a Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG for only $57,225 here in the States, and then go match the Bullit’s 3.9-second claimed sprint to 60, as we have done. Still, the Bullit is fun as only Brabus can define it, and for its customers, that’s the kind of fun that counts.

Hydrogen fuel-cell-powered concept cars are nothing new at auto shows these days, but what the heck is Morgan doing with one? Evidently, being England’s largest independent auto manufacturer (tee-hee) has prompted it to set an example, presumably to all those other U.K. automotive powerhouses, of environmental sensitivity. The result is a really great-looking coupe with a really dumb name: LifeCar.

In spite of its eensy size and art deco styling, the two-seater features loads of innovative technology, thanks to a collaborative effort that also engaged two universities and several suppliers. For example, the LifeCar does without batteries and instead utilizes ultracapacitors to power the in-wheel electric motors, which together are said to be able to propel the little guy to 60 in about seven seconds and on to a top speed of 80 to 85 mph, in spite of the fuel cell’s modest 22-kW (30 hp) output. Morgan also claims its regenerative brakes can garner nearly 50 percent of the energy lost during braking. Thus equipped, the LifeCar is said to achieve the energy-expenditure equivalent of 150 mpg. And, yes, this concept is a runner.

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Unfortunately, if anything like the LifeCar is ever produced—we’re talking a long way out here—it would certainly do without such fun details as the wooden interior “tub” to which its seat cushions are fixed, as well as its doorless, canopy-style cabin access. And to install real-world interior accouterments, window glass, and any form of front, side, and rear crash structure would surely bloat the LifeCar’s overall weight well above its heroically low 600 kilograms. But given Morgan’s history of never changing its styling—like, ever—at least we know what it would look like.

The Geneva auto show would be a massive letdown if not for the appearance of some zany concept from Franco Sbarro, and he didn’t disappoint. To celebrate his 35th year at the Geneva show, Sbarro served up the Pendocar, a four-wheel articulating bike/quad thingy strapped to a 160-hp, 1000cc Honda motorcycle engine—kind of like the Viper-powered Dodge Tomahawk, only small enough for little old Sbarro himself to straddle.

Riding on a four-wheel independent suspension capable of leaning 30 degrees to either side, the Pendocar looked like quite a ride, even if its inch-thick transparent acrylic wheels (!) probably wouldn’t withstand much by way of cornering forces. In a straight line, however, it could be quite a hoot—if, that is, you could hold onto the leather-shrouded handlebars through the wind buffeting inherent to anything with no windshield.

As for more details, well, there was no prepared information on the contraption, and Franco Sbarro himself wasn’t much help. When we asked the eccentric Italian about the Pendocar, he said to us incredulously, "Well, I just a-finished it a-last a-night! I have no nice a-DVD-a or a-pictures for you.”

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As for production possibilities and availability, forget it. Heck, we’re not convinced Sbarro even had a name for it, let alone a price. Indeed, when we asked what it was called, he sort of shrugged, paused, and said, "Uh, hmm. Pendocar! Ah, you know, like pendo [which means “lean over” in Italian] and ‘car’ a-together-a." We seriously think he made it up on the spot, and when we showed him what we wrote down, he nodded in approval.

Talking with Sbarro was a pleasure but nowhere near the amount of silly fun the Pendocar looks to be.